Day 4: Cartagena, Columbia

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

I had pre-arranged a private tour for us today, which turned out to be perfect.  The forecast was for 100 degrees F.  We were only in port from 7 a.m. until sail away at 1 p.m., which meant we could tour in the coolest part of the day.  This year we were smart enough to bring our own water bottles, and we were prepared for touring in this kind of heat and humidity.  

Cartagena is a beautiful city from the sea - with one of the most beautiful harbours in the world.  It was established in 1533, and had the usual long history of plunder by the Europeans, this time, Spain.  Last year was the Bi-Centennial of them gaining their independence from Spain.  Cartagena's harbour enabled  good defensibility for the English and French who tried to raid it, as it was the location for all the warehouses of plunder that were taken from the land and shipped to Europe.  During early years Bolivia and Columbia were one large country.  Cartagena is now a city of just over 1 million people, and like all South American countries has had a tough time economically.  Columbia is the size of Texas and California combined, and their industries include oil, gold, fruit, flowers, and of course coffee.  Tourism is very important.  The city is quite flat, spread out across this huge crab like harbour.  On one leg of the crab are the new tall apartment buildings and hotels, ringing the beautiful beaches, and then the "old city" which was built in the 14th century and beyond is just at the top of that crab leg.  On one side is this absolutely impressive fort with monstrously thick cement walls.  There is one very high hill, on which was built a monastery by the "footless" Augustine monks.  This is where our tour began, after being picked up by MareIvy our tour guide at 7:30 a.m.,  and the vista of the city at this early hour was wonderful.  The skies were clear blue, and there was a lovely morning breeze. The monastery has a breathtaking interior courtyard, draped in bougainvillaea, which is gloriously in bloom throughout the city as well.  There is an altar here covered in 18K gold.  Annually the faithful trek up the great height on switchback roads, carrying a Virgin Mary statue, dressed in one of the many handmade gowns hanging in the monastery.   We stopped briefly at the fort, to learn about it but not to climb its tremendous height, thank goodness, then made a 30 minute obligatory stop at the market.  After my lecture yesterday it was easy to pass up the emeralds in the market!  The rest of the morning was a walking tour of the old city.  This old city is really charming, and has mostly been restored and many wealthy people live in the homes which are behind the walls.  Luckily we saw into some of them, and like many other homes we have seen around the world, the plain street facing walls belie the beauty that resides with, and the cool courtyards.  Very similar to Seville, Spain, and Florence, Italy.  This is my absolute favourite design and makes so much sense in these hot climates.  

Marelvy speaks 3 languages, and was an excellent guide.  She told us that,  when Cartagena was originally built, it was a very large slave port, and populated mostly by men.  Inevitably the men bred with the local Indians and the slaves, and today Cartagena is a very big mix of many races, and like Rio, has no racism at all.  Marelvy is married to a white American from Pittsburgh, PA, who is a painter.  One of the surprises she gave us was a poster that he painted which was the poster used for the Bi-Centennial in 2012.  Not just any painter.  She said that the only time she has faced discrimination is when she was in the US, because she is dark, and he is white.  

Cartagena also has the blight on its history of having the Spanish Inquisition in this city for many years.  Many people were judged to be guilty, and burned at the stake.  We saw the building where they were tortured to plead their guilt, then outside in the square, where they were pronounced guilty.  They then passed through the "Gate of Forgiveness" where they were blessed, and led to the burning.  No wonder there was much rejoicing when they got their independence from Spain.  Interestingly today, Spain is very involved once more in Columbia, and owns many telecom companies, and other resources industries.  

One picture which we took was of a woman dressed in local costume, carrying a large heavy tray of fruit on her head.  These women pose for $1.  They are from a town of about 3000, which is outside Cartagena, and in slave times, this town, helped to hide escaped slaves.  They have a very distinct dialect of Spanish, African, and Indian.  

I asked Marelvy about drugs.  She said that the terrible violence of the cartels has moved to Mexico, and that there is general agreement in Central and South America that the "war" on drugs is a failure, and that the only way to stop the trade would be to legalize these drugs, but Obama, doesn't want to have that discussion.  

We came away very glad we had a chance to visit this historic city, and to learn about its history.